Catalytic Graphitization of Anthracite as an Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Synthetic graphite is an ideal anode material, which could replace the natural graphite for Li-ion batteries. However, high-temperature graphitization makes the process costly and energy-intensive, which impedes its larger-scale production and commercial applications. Herein, synthetic graphite was prepared from anthracite via catalytic graphitization using H3BO3, La2O3, Pr6O11, and CeO2 as catalysts. Results show that the catalysts could decrease the graphitization temperature from 2800 to 2600 °C and improve the regularity of graphite microcrystals. The synthetic graphite graphitized using La2O3 as a catalyst has higher degree of graphitization and regular graphite layers, which could promote the fast diffusion of Li+/e–. Therefore, the synthetic graphite delivers an outstanding electrochemical performance with high reversible capacities of 337.2 mA h·g–1 at 0.2 C. Moreover, the synthetic graphite shows superior rate performance and long charge/discharge life with a reversible capacity of over 89.2% after 500 cycles at 2 C. Therefore, the excellent electrochemical performance verifies a potential feasibility for the production of synthetic graphite materials from anthracite coal in a large scale for high-performance anodes in lithium-ion batteries.